German

You only need four ingredients.

Make this salad your new go-to potluck dish.

They're perfectly cooked, every time.

A cozy and comforting alternative to mashed potatoes.

The key gravy ingredient: gingersnap cookies!

These versatile little German dumplings are as cute as a button.

It's richer, softer, and chewier than gingerbread cookies.

The classic cake is the perfect combination of tart cherries, light whipped cream, and decadent dark chocolate.

When I think of my travels in Germany, I think of beers, brats, and mustard, and it’s still that satisfying trinity that I crave when the weather starts to cool down. Throwing everything into a slow cooker means I can come back to tender sausages that have been gently braising in beer, with a pile of sweet peppers and onions coated in grainy mustard right on top.

Tucked into a mix of chopped romaine, ruffled frisée, sweet red pear, and pungent blue cheese, crispy schnitzel brings some Oktoberfest flair to the dinner table.

When it comes to fall comfort food, it doesn’t get much better than sauerbraten, the traditional German pot roast. An ideal candidate for the slow cooker, this hearty, sturdy cut of beef is transformed into an ultra-tender meal, flavored with the aromas of warm red wine and bright vinegar. Because tougher cuts of beef, like chuck and bottom round, are favored for this German favorite, sauerbraten is an ideal candidate for the slow cooker.

This hearty strata is our seasonal take on the classic ham and cheese breakfast casserole. Laced with Black Forest ham and nutty Gruyère, and built on a foundation of pumpernickel and sourdough bread, this version uses spicy mustard to give the eggs a zippy boost. The beauty of this recipe is how easily it delivers a hot breakfast to the table in the morning.

It's the ultimate cozy winter meal.

Swap the graham crackers for a biscuit crust!

Modeled after the classic German Black Forest layer cake, these chocolate cupcakes deliver a spongy cake stuffed with a sweet cherry filling, a light and fluffy whipped cream topping, and the requisite shower of shaved chocolate. If you were looking for a new take on chocolate cupcakes, this is it. Like layer cakes, these filled cupcakes are best made over the course of two days.

This gorgeously burnished sweet bread has been an Easter tradition in Aachen, Germany’s westernmost city, since medieval times. Its name is derived from the local dialect’s word for Easter (Posch), combined with Weck, a regional term for white bread rolls. Poschweck therefore simply means “Easter bread.

There are countless apple cakes in Germany, but this one, in which a rather plain batter rises up and bakes around sliced apples, has to be one of the most popular.

When it comes to holiday drinking, eggnog is only the beginning. Many cultures and cuisines proudly claim a Christmas punch and this week we’re bringing you The Global Punch Bowl with five festive punches, each with a story of their own. When the sun starts to set at 4 p.m. and the grass is frosty in the morning, it can be difficult to look on the bright side (there are so few hours of sunlight, after all!). But there’s a silver lining to this dark and chilly season: mulled wine.

Whether it's a hearty pot roast or a dozen gorgeous Black Forest cupcakes, these Oktoberfest recipes are here to help you celebrate the flavors of Germany.

Spritz cookies are a busy baker’s best friend. The ingenious contraption of a cooke press allows you to create different shapes of cookies so that you have a wide variety of cookie designs, all with very little effort. While the standard vanilla-flavored spritz cookies are delicious, simply adding some fresh lemon juice and zest to the dough gives it a bright flavor that’s welcome on any cookie plate.

Spritz cookies, sometimes called butter spritz or pressed butter cookies, are pretty, petite cookies with a tender, crisp crumb and a rich butter flavor. Spritz originates from the German word Spritzen, which literally means “to squirt.” Although credit goes to the Germans for the invention of the cookie press, many other countries have shared in the holiday traditions of these cookies. Often, spritz cookie presses and recipes are passed down through generations.

Around the World in 30 Soups: This month we’re collaborating with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globetrotting adventure in soups from countries and cuisines around the world. Today’s stop: Germany. Chef power couple Jeremy and Jessica Nolen, authors of New German Cooking, offer up a crowd favorite from their restaurant that ties together the German soup traditions we crave the most: beer, cheese, and bread. All in one bowl!

The most important thing you need to know about this recipe is that it comes together in under six minutes and involves hearty sausage, tangy sauerkraut, sweet roasted red peppers, and plenty of grainy mustard, just for good measure. Oh, and it’s all tucked inside a tender pretzel roll to gild the lily, because lunches need that sometimes. Starting with fully cooked chicken sausage means that this recipe is really just about assembly.

When I was flipping through chef Jacques Pépins’s newest cookbook, Heart & Soul in the Kitchen, this recipe immediately jumped out to me. I love crispy pork schnitzel, but using rice cakes as an alternative to bread crumbs or flour for the breading? I needed to try this immediately. Jacques says, “I make this recipe with boneless pork loin steaks or chops.

There’s a remarkable little pizza joint near my house. They have a big wood-fired oven crammed into a restaurant the size of a walk-in closet. There are three tables pushed against the wall, and a few seats at the bar, pressed up beside that blazing oven. Oh, and you enter through a convenience store, sidling past Diet Coke and bubblegum into this dimly-lit, miniature pizza parlor.